Archives Of Pain

[oxygen]

Originally Posted by Richian

I don't advocate it, but I'm not sure why listening to it should make me feel 'uncomfortable'.

I share Noisy Cat's feeling on it, or at least I used to. I always liked AoP, but in the beginnig it made me uncomfortable too. I didn't understand if it was ironic or not. I would have a hard time accepting such a pro-death penalty stance considering their (left-wing) political views, especially because the lyrics are so bleak and down-right cruel.
In the end I simply decided it has to beat least partly ironic, or I wouldn't be able to listen to it anymore, it's just too dark and against my beliefs.

I'm sure all of you already read this, but I'll post it what Nicky and Richey said about the song for completeness' sake:

"Bentham's 'Panopticon' - visibility is a trap.
Foucault - Savagery is necessary.
Is revenge justified? Nothing in common with Manson or Dahmer cult and its current fashionability. There is no glory in innocent death. Death/Murder/Redemption part of the human condition."
(Richey James; THB Tourbook)

"That was the song that me and Richey worried about the most, and did the most work on. It was written as a reaction to the glorification of serial killers. In 'Silence of the Lambs', Hannibal Lecter is made in to a hero in the last scene of the film - people feel sorry for them. It's like that line from Therapy? 'Now I Know How Jeffrey Dahmer Feels' ('Trigger Inside' - Troublegum). I don't fucking want to know how Jeffrey Dahmer feels, and I think it's quite appalling to put yourself in that position. Everyone gets a self-destructive urge the urge to kill, but I don't particularly like the glorification of it. There's a book by Marcel Foucault with a chapter called 'Archives Of Pain'. Richey and I did that book at university, and it had quite an influence on us. It talks about the punishment matching the crime. But the song isn't a right-wing statement, it's just against this fascination with people who kill. A lot of people don't like to see rapists getting off with a £25 fine.
That line: 'Kill Yeltsin, who's saying?' - well, Yeltsin is a figure of hate to us. A person who's basically an alcoholic... that's a personal, petty manics thing."
(Nicky Wire; Melody Maker 27.8.94)

from http://home.arcor.de/starluver/manic...es_of_pain.htm